Reports New-car reliability 61 Family sedans 64 Mazda3 sedan 70 CarsRoad tests, auto products, hot topics NEWS A high price doesn’t mean it’s reliable aying more for a new car Toyota Camry. The upscale Lincoln MKZ coln products that we surveyed, 46—or doesn’t guarantee better reliabil- beat its rivals, the Acura TL and Lexus EX. about 90 percent—are average or better, in- ity. As a group, inexpensive small • Even good brands falter. Among the least cluding the new Ford Flex SUV. But the Lin- cars and midsized family sedans reliable in their respective classes are the coln division has mixed results; some Pare the most reliable. That’s one of the all-wheel-drive Lexus GS, the Nissan Versa models score below their Ford equivalents. findings of our 2009 Annual Auto Survey, sedan, and the Subaru Impreza WRX. All-wheel-drive versions of the Lincoln MKS, based on our subscribers’ experiences with • Five of the eight most reliable family cars MKX, and MKZ, essentially high-end ver- 1.4 million vehicles. are hybrids. sions of the Ford Taurus, Edge, and Fusion, Small cars stand out. Twenty of 37 small But reliability isn’t everything. Some respectively, are all below average. cars have above-average predicted-reliabil- very reliable models do not perform well GM shed the Hummer, Pontiac, and ity scores. Family cars fare nearly as well, enough in our road tests for us to recom- Saturn brands after emerging from bank- with 21 out of 41 scoring above average. mend them. One example is the Toyota ruptcy. It now consists of Buick, Cadillac, Other interesting findings include the Yaris: Its ironclad reliability doesn’t make Chevrolet, and GMC. Of the 48 models we following: up for its below-average performance. The surveyed from those brands, 20 have aver- • A wide gulf separates the best from the same applies to the Honda Insight and the age scores, and only the Malibu V6 sedan worst. The least reliable vehicle, the Volk- Volvo S40, one of the most reliable nonhy- is better than average. swagen Touareg, is 27 times more likely to brid family cars. Some newer GM products are bright have a problem than the most reliable car, spots. In addition to the Malibu, the Buick the Honda Insight. Ford dominates the domestics Lucerne did well in our road tests, and it • Ford is tops among the domestic auto- Ford has consolidated its position as the scores average in reliability. The Chevrolet makers. The Ford Fusion and Mercury Mi- only Detroit automaker with world-class re- Traverse SUV also makes the cut, as does lan once again beat the Honda Accord and liability. Of the 51 Ford, Mercury, and Lin- its cousin, the Buick Enclave, but only in the all-wheel-drive version. The Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra 1500 pickups, Domestic cars vs. the imports two good performers, earn our recommen- dation as well. GM has a number of strong Asian vehicles are the most reliable overall, according to our Predicted reliability contenders either just released or in the latest predicted-reliability scores. These graphs show the Above Below pipeline, but they are too new for us to percentage of models that rate above average, average, and average Average average below average for that measure. have reliability data on them. We recommend the Pontiac Vibe, the V8 version of the Pontiac G8, and the Sat- 6% urn Aura, which have average or better 16% 17% reliability. Some of those cars can still be found on dealer lots. 25% 37 % 41% As for Chrysler, we couldn’t recom- mend any of its products in last year’s 69% 47% 42% Next month Car-owner satisfaction and road tests of Asian brands European brands American brands large and upscale sedans. 132 models 64 models 142 models december 2009 www.ConsumerReports.org 61 survey because of mediocre performance, But this year the turbocharged Impreza Audi Q7 SUV continues to be much worse poor reliability, or both. Now we can rec- WRX turned up with a worse-than- than average, but not as bad as its plat- ommend one: the four-wheel-drive ver- average reliability score, even though form mate, the VW Touareg, which not sion of the redesigned Dodge Ram 1500 other Imprezas have been average or bet- only scores poorly but has the worst new- pickup. It did well in our road tests and ter, as are all other Subarus. car prediction score in the survey. rates average in reliability. Still, more Hyundai and Kia continue to make All of Volvo’s sedans are average or bet- than one-third of Chrysler products are reliable cars. The Hyundai Elantra and ter, but Volvo’s XC90 SUV is below average. much worse than average, including its Tucson, and the Kia Sportage get top Porsche, which has been doing quite well new car-based SUV, the Dodge Journey. marks. The new Hyundai Genesis V6 is in our survey of late, has one serious hic- better than average; the V8 version is av- cup this year: The Boxster drops to below Asian brands still command erage. Only Kia’s Sedona minivan and average, which strikes it from our recom- The major Japanese brands and South Ko- Sorento SUV score below average. mended list. But the Cayenne SUV im- rea’s Hyundai and Kia make plenty of reli- proved to average. able vehicles. Of the 48 models with top Good news from Europe reliability scores, 36 are Asian. Toyota ac- European brands continue to improve. How we assess reliability counts for 18; Honda, eight; Nissan, four; Mercedes-Benz has significantly rebound- Our data are based on an annual survey and Hyundai/Kia and Subaru, three each. ed, with most models average or better, of subscribers to Consumer Reports and Japanese vehicles are consistently and the GLK does exceptionally well in its ConsumerReports.org and are not derived good. All Hondas and Acuras are average first year in our survey. Scores from rival from our vehicle testing. A model needs at or above. Toyota, with its Lexus and Scion BMW are more mixed. The 535i sedan and least 100 responses for us to score it. brands, provides a broader product range. X3 SUV declined in reliability, and the From the survey, we create a reliability The Lexus GS AWD is the only Toyota mod- 135i, debuting in this survey, scores below history for each model over the course of el below average in reliability. average. Some BMW models have average 10 years, 2000 to 2009. We use the data, in Nissan and its Infiniti luxury division or better reliability, but the 328i versions part, to help readers determine which have mostly been very reliable. The once- are the only ones that we have tested and used cars to choose. We also use it to fore- troublesome Infiniti QX56 and Nissan Arma- can recommend. cast how 2010 models will hold up. That da are now average, as is the four-wheel- Volkswagen and Audi are also staging predicted-reliability score is based on a drive Nissan Titan, although its rear- a nice recovery. The Volkswagen Rabbit model’s overall reliability for the latest wheel-drive version is still troublesome. (Golf) and the new CC get top scores. The three model years, provided that the 2010 The Nissan Versa has produced uneven re- VW Jetta’s recommendation now extends version hasn’t changed significantly. If a sults. Over the last two surveys, the hatch- to the diesel version, making it the only model was new or redesigned in that peri- back has been average while the sedan has diesel we currently recommend. Both the od, we might use one or two years of data. been far below average. The Nissan Quest Passat and Audi A3 have improved so that We will make a prediction for a newly re- minivan also remains troublesome. they now have average reliability scores. designed model only if previous versions Subaru has been a very reliable brand. The new VW Tiguan SUV is average. The had outstanding reliability. What’s up and what’s down Newly recommended Not recommended Models with Models that now have Models with declining reliability improved reliability sufficient data BMW 535i (RWD)* Mazda CX-7 Audi A3 Audi A4* Mazda6 (V6)* BMW X3 Mini Cooper Buick Enclave (AWD) Hatchback S Chevrolet Traverse Nissan Maxima* Cadillac DTS Porsche Cayenne* (AWD)* Pontiac G8 (V8) Porsche Boxster Saab 9-3 convertible* Chevrolet Dodge Ram 1500 Saturn Aura (4-cyl.) Avalanche Subaru Impreza Suzuki XL-7 (4WD)* WRX* Volkswagen Passat Toyota Venza (V6)* Lexus GS (AWD) Ford Flex* Volvo XC90 (V8)* Volkswagen Jetta Lincoln MKX (AWD) Hyundai Genesis sedan (turbodiesel)* (V6)* Volkswagen CC Infiniti FX35* (4-cyl.)* Models that now have sufficient Lexus RX* Volkswagen Tiguan* data but are below average Mercedes-Benz GLK* BMW 135i* Lincoln MKS (FWD)* Mazda6 (4-cyl.)* Dodge Journey* Saturn Astra* Audi A4 Jaguar XF* New or redesigned for 2009 or early 2010 models that have insufficient data: Audi Q5, Chevrolet Camaro, Hyundai Genesis coupe, Kia Borrego, Kia Soul, Nissan 370Z, Nissan Cube, Suzuki Equator, Volkswagen Routan, and Volvo XC60. * Based on data from one model year only. 62 consumer reports december 2009 Best and worst in reliability The models listed below have earned the highest and lowest predicted provide good overall safety if crash-tested and are designated with reliability Ratings, based on our 2009 Annual Auto Survey. Models with a c. Not all reliable models are recommended, either because they an asterisk (*) are based on data of one model year only.